starting with handpainted textures

Turnipnose

Hi everyone,
this is my first post on polycount.
I started trying out hand painted texturing a couple of days ago and am pretty happy with the results. I was inspired by the work of Cordero espacially this weapon.

The biggest issue i want to tackle next is the lack of medium sized detail (espacially at the wood). I don't want to use grungemaps or any photo texture, because I really want to improve my painting skills. Anyone got tips for me how to do this?

p3d links:
http://p3d.in/NoXS9/shadeless+spin
http://p3d.in/80aXk/shadeless+spin

render:



and the textures

Harbinger

Looks like a pretty good first start! One thing I'd suggest is to not be so "clean". Parts of your texture look so smooth it appears that you used the gradient tool. Don't be afraid to let some of your brush strokes show, it helps add interest and detail.

Edit: Didn't watch the tutorial you posted. Are you not using a tablet?

Selaznog

I totally agree with Harbinger. These are good but could look better if you show brush strokes rather than hard lines and gradients

brandonorden

Ditto to the last two about using gradients. I think gradients can be good to use as a simple base for some of the color transitions, but eventually, you'll want to paint over those gradients with brushstrokes to add more interest.


I think it's a good start. One suggestion on my end would be to make some of the details larger and more noticeable. Like for example the nicks and cuts on the metal of the small knife are pretty small, and I think you could play those up more so they're more readable from a distance. I might say the same for the lines on the wood grain, though they look at a good size as is. Maybe the lines on the wood grain could use just a bit more contrast? Like a little more highlight on their edges?

However you proceed, just keep it up! Hand painted stuff is great.

Turnipnose

Thanks for the advice guys. I didn't use much gradients, but a very soft brush. So I started repainting the structure with a harder brush and it turned out pretty well. I think the results are a little bit messy, but all in all I'm pretty satisfied. After finishing wood I'm going to start painting in more scratches on the metal.

until then crits or comments are welcome

HandSandwich

Hey man, good start. I really like where this is going. I think the style of handpainted textures calls for something a bit less high-frequency though. I did a paintover (Hope you dont mind) to get what I'm saying across. Focus on bigger, easier to read shapes. Think of how far this would be seen by the camera. Paint in some directional lighting to add volume. Anyhow, keep it up

jermaineb

pretty cool :P
the character definitely added to the texture. good stuff :P

Turnipnose

big big thanks for the repaint HandSandwich, really helped a LOT!

I did a repaint of the texture, trying to achieve the brushstrokes you were talking about.
the result looks like this:


Although I think I could add a lot more detail to this and the texture is far away from finished. I'll probably step on to another model now, because the UV setup wasn't very good at this one and after spending an entire week with this spear and doing 3 redraws until now, I had enough of it for now. maybe I'll come back to it later.
I'll keep going with handpainted textures though and will keep posting my results in this thread.